Worldwide server shipments plunged 28% in the second quarter of 2009, according to research firm Gartner, while revenue dropped nearly 30%.

“No server segment was immune from the economic woes,” said analyst Jeffrey Hewitt. “Server sales have felt the impact of reduced budgets since the last half of 2008, and the second quarter of this year remained in the negative.”

Dell, Fujitsu, HP, IBM and Sun – the world’s top five server vendors – all reported double-digit declines. IBM, despite retaining the lead in terms of revenue, suffered a 27% decline from its line of servers while Sun was even more badly affected with a 36% drop.

Shipments in Europe, the Middle East and Africa fell by almost 32%, the steepest decline worldwide. Asian markets were the least affected, with a 17% decline in unit shipments.